


House of Cards

by Zelos



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Familial Love, Gen, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 09:17:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1171343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelos/pseuds/Zelos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rachel did more than just fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	House of Cards

**Author's Note:**

> For [Justanotherghostwriter](http://justanotherghostwriter.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Prompt: “You killed someone I love.” – Rachel about Jake in ‘Elfangor’s Secret’ [please no Berenscest]
> 
> Takes place some time before Megamorphs #3.

It was hard, loving those who were no longer living in the way you remembered them.  There was no twelve-step program for people that change in ways you don’t want them to. And no one, Andalite or human or goddamn _Ellimists_ , could do crap about the human-shaped holes in your heart those people left behind, doubly so when they were dragged away by an alien invasion, kicking and screaming all the while.

Rachel understood that, even if she couldn’t vocalize it. She loved Tobias all the more for never _making_ her vocalize it. She knew she was no prize; she did that on purpose. She’d rather make little Sara cry and scream at Jordan, rather distract them with _Rachel’s so mean_ rather than make her little sisters wonder why they never spent time together anymore.

That was hard. But at least Sara and Jordan were still too young to really suspect, and her mother was rarely home. Jake had it harder. Save the world, play his part, and be _both_ his parents’ sons because the other one no longer was, anymore.

No wonder Jake’s grades sucked.

She came up to Jake’s house and spent a moment looking around. Rachel hadn’t visited in years. Divorce splits up families, after all—extended ones included. Auntie Jean and Uncle Steve had never been quite the same to them after the divorce. People drew their lines the ways they knew best, and most drew it by blood. She couldn’t fault Uncle Steve (too much) for that.

She doubted she would’ve talked to Tom or Jake more than a few times a year if Elfangor hadn’t thrown them together. And because of that, she was closer and further apart from her family in ways she never would have imagined.

Funny how things worked.

Rachel rang the bell. Barking and footsteps sounded, then a momentary scuffling before the door swung open. “Hello—oh. Hey.” Jake blinked at her, one hand on the scruff of Homer’s neck.

“Hey, yourself,” she sniped, shoving her bags into his face without warning.

“Oof. Thanks? What is this?”

“Science notes. We have a test in two days.”

Jake blanched and nearly lost his grip on Homer. “We do?”

Rachel huffed a sigh. “Would I be standing here getting attacked by your dog if we didn’t?”

Jake looked sheepish. “True. Um, how screwed am I?”

“Depends. How much do you know? I know your notes are better than Marco’s in the sense that they exist, but that’s a pretty low bar.”

“So…screwed.”

“Yup. Better get cracking, cousin.” Speaking of which… “Where’s Tom?”

Jake shrugged, a shadow flitting across his face. “Who knows? Out celebrating his birthday with his…friends, I guess.”

Tom wouldn’t miss _Jake’s_ birthday—little siblings’ birthdays were _sacred_ , if only for the act. But his own? Rachel tried to remember what she did for her last birthday. Went flying with Tobias? Blew up a Yeerk building? Disembowel a few Hork-Bajir Controllers?

She hadn’t spent it at home, that was for sure.

“Jake? Dinner!” his mother called; Rachel suddenly wondered how many places they had set for tonight. Was the birthday boy coming home?

Jake was watching her, his smile slightly lopsided. “You wanna stay for dinner?”

Rachel shook her head. “I’m good. Tell Tom I said happy birthday. His present’s in the other bag.” That Homer was chewing on. Jake wasn’t very good at keep-away. “And tell your folks I said hi.”

“They’re here, you know,” Jake pointed out. “You could say hi yourself.”

What could she possibly say? “Nah. But congrats on your mom’s book.”

“Thanks.” Jake didn’t even ask how she knew.

“Yeah, yeah. Good luck studying. If you flunk, your parents will be in your life twenty-four hours a day,” she told him airily, every inch the teenager. “I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”

She was lying; she’d wish it for Tom. Jake’s smile turned brittle; he’d thought the same thing.

“Better get cracking,” she called over her shoulder as she left.

She passed by Tom’s old basketball hoop. It looked lonely, rusty with disuse. One of Homer’s old, broken leashes was hanging off of it.

It occurred to her that Homer may be the only happy creature left in this household.

 

Rachel stared up at the Controller, feeling the familiar outrage wash over her vision, painting everything a livid blood-red. She welcomed it. It dulled the ache, the guilt, the hole in her heart.

_Jake._

The Yeerk was begging. “You can’t kill me, Andalite.”

<Oh, but I can.> She climbed after him, every movement sure, rage and fear and guilt and blind, furious love crystallizing under her skin like armour; armour that protected the girl inside, hiding her away until there was nothing but the warrior left. The mindless killing machine, the dark thing inside of her that Jake feared as much as used.

She never said—

But Rachel wasn’t the talking type. Not for that.

Did chimpanzees snarl? She did.

<You killed someone I love.>

**Author's Note:**

> Rachel’s main interactions in the books were with Cassie and Tobias; her relationships with Marco, Ax, and Jake were significantly weaker. She respected all of them though, and her conversations with Jake—particularly in The Solution and The Answer—really hit me in the sense that those two, while not close, understood each other very well. And Rachel exhibits a surprising amount of sensitivity despite her bloodthirstiness.
> 
> The fact that Rachel was the only one of the Animorphs to remain an outstanding student says a lot about her time-management abilities, and it’s one of my headcanons that her (perfect, of course) notes kept the others from flunking dozens of times. Can’t save the world if you’re grounded for flunking, after all.


End file.
